Texas A&M researchers working on oral anthrax vaccine

There may soon be a new weapon in the centuries-old battle against anthrax thanks to groundbreaking work at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS). Anthrax, a disease caused by a bacterium called Bacillus anthracis, contaminates surface soil and grasses, where it may be ingested or inhaled by livestock or grazing wildlife. This is especially common in the western Texas Hill Country, where each year the disease kills livestock and wildlife. The good news is that there is already a vaccine for anthrax, which many livestock owners administer annually. Unfortunately, it can only be administered with an injection that is time consuming for livestock and not feasible for wildlife. With that in mind researchers went to work to attempt to create a formulation to deliver the vaccine orally, which would allow for potential distribution to wildlife. Read more at vetmed.tamu.edu…